This is a humble record of flora/fauna encountered. It's hoped these words and media will: a) be a catalyst for folks to engage wildlife on whatever level b) inspire a Leopoldian land ethic c) get kids outside and d) provoke fun.

Dragonfly

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

You don't need all day to bird or wildlife watch...how about 15 minutes of your lunch hour. I stepped outside yesterday for lunch looking for diurnal raptors (intuition made me do it) perched on poles or treetops. Within minutes I had 2 Golden Eagle (FOY adult, immature), 3 Red-tailed (1 Harlan's type), Rough-legged, and immature Bald Eagle soaring closely overhead. Check out the photos below.

"...if you're not actively working to get better at what you do, there's a good chance you are getting worse, no matter what the quality of your initial training may have been...simply doing an activity for a long time is no guarantee that you will do it well, much less get better at it...because most of us tend to become fixed in our habits and practices, even when they're suboptimal" (Tony Schwartz, author of The Way We Are Working Isn't Working, 2010). His point being the "10,000 hour rule in becoming an expert" advanced by Malcolm Gladwell didn't recognize the research data subtleties found by Anders Ericsson, i.e. expertise comes from a "performance pulse". The performance pulse identified by studying violinist practice was a measurement of work/rest; work averaged a mere 3.5 hours/day. The work effort was intense and for no more than 90 minutes/session; deep rest followed each session. The goal of practice is to "ritualize" our skills, i.e. "self-consciousness interferes with the ability to perform any complex task". Think bird identification.

Want to be an expert birder? First, get your skills to the automatic level, as little as 50 hours of work...still an amateur :-) Though not as mystical as Master Po addressing "Grasshopper" in Kung Fu, you are now on the path...of expertise, that is. I recommend that you read/review the above books for more fascinating research in which to get better skilled. "Hear the water, hear the birds."

About Me

Have had a colorful working career; an ecletic mix of blue collar and professional positions: steel mill, automotive technician, aerosol valve manufacturer, lollipop machine assembler, busboy, janitor, paperboy, a variety of biological volunteer positions, and now federal employee. Live in the present while embracing the change of the exciting future.

Am blessed to have grown up in a terrific family and have met so many interesting and good people. Am happily married to a wonderful and supportive person. Practice an Oprah mantra regularly: grateful. Fortunate to have discovered my passions and live them.

I encourage you to look inside, ask some questions, discover who you are...then plot a course of action to make that you a reality.